Adult Advisors

Although the students and youth are self-selected and autonomous, trusted counsel from elder allies and mentors – from the media/analytical, to the legal, tactical and strategic – is a core part of the initiative.

Noam Chomsky – Noam is Institute Professor Emeritus of Linguistics and Philosophy at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Beyond innovating modern linguistics, Professor Chomsky is one of the world’s most acclaimed writers and social critics.

Greta Berlin – has been an advocate for justice for the Palestinians since the early 60s. She is the mother of two Palestinian/American children whose father was born and raised in Safad, Palestine and is a 1948 refugee. She has an MFA in Theatre and a bachelor’s in English and, when she’s not working with Palestinians, has spent the past 35 years teaching engineers and scientists how to design and deliver presentations.In 2003, she volunteered with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), working in several villages in the occupied West bank as well as manning their media office, then she returned to work again in 2005 and 07. She is one of the founders of the Free Gaza Movement and was on board the FREE GAZA, the first boat with internationals to reach this besieged strip of the Mediterranean in 41 years. She then helped run three more successful voyages to Gaza between October 22 and December 23, 2008, working on the land crew and media in Cyprus, sending more than 50 human rights workers to Gaza on board the DIGNITY. She ran the media office for Freedom Flotilla I and has been a spokesperson for Freedom Flotilla II– Stay Human.

Kathy Sheetz – is a Registered Nurse with a master’s degree in Sustainable Development, focusing on food security. She has worked on human rights, health and food security, most often in Haiti. Her work in Haiti led her to study the circumstances faced by Palestinians in their occupied homelands. Kathy found their situation so profoundly disturbing she felt compelled by conscience to join other nonviolent, human rights activists from around the world to focus on the Palestinian issue. Kathy and her daughter Courtney sailed with Free Gaza on the first voyage, arriving in Gaza in August 2008.In two later attempts to enter Gaza by sea—June 2009 and May 2010 (Freedom Flotilla I)—Kathy was kidnapped, sent to an Israeli prison, and later deported. Kathy and her daughter also attended the January 2010 Gaza Freedom March in Cairo. They were proud signatories of “the Cairo Declaration.” In addition, Kathy has 3 adult children and 5 beautiful grandchildren.